This invention relates to methods of waste disposal and more particularly to methods of waste disposal using incinerators.
The U.S. Navy is currently developing a highly efficient shipboard waste destruction system which employs high temperature incineration (&gt;1200.degree. C.) to process Navy solid wastes primarily consisting of cardboard, paper, steel, aluminum, glass, and food. The products of this processing will be carbon dioxide and water (released as gases), and a slag composed of residual inorganic compounds. The composition, melting behavior, and properties of the slags will depend on the composition of the waste stream and processing temperature and atmosphere. Because of shipboard size and weight limitations, the design of existing land-based incinerators (including commercial plasma reactors) cannot be adopted by the Navy.
It is desirable that the incineration waste destruction process be made as safe as possible. In particular, it is desirable to prevent catastrophic failures of the system when it is used during fleet operations at sea.